7600GT or 8500GT

[AngelfireUk83]

I am after upgrading my graphics card which is a 6600GT to a better card either the 7600GT GDDR3 or 8500GT DDR2 I am on a really tight budget. I am doing away with my 15 CRT monitor and I am going to attach my PC to my 26" HDTV's HDMI port. So if the card comes with the HDTV adapter then fine if not have to purchase 1 which would be best I don't play extreme games I use my XBOX 360 for that.

I live in a small room in my parents house and I am trying to cut down space e.g PC desk would be going as well as TV cabinet.

[Dapman02]

Here are some recommendations from me. Also, it would help to have a max spending limit
2600PRO (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102103)
If you can wait a lil' bit and save a lil' more an 8600GT (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130085) would be good. It even has a mail in rebate
I would defiently take either the 8 series or the 2x00 series (ATi) they have better video decoding that doesn't put stress on the cpu

[AngelfireUk83]

I read that ATi's 2600 series and the new-ish 3000 series have better HD over 8000 nvidia series cards I've seen this Ati HD 3450 256mb DDR2 for £47 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=168 the same price as a 8500GT or a 7600GT.

Like I said I won't be playing serious extreme games just need a boost thou I am looking into a 8600GT now Point of View http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-014-PV&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=912

[Mr Alpha]

Price/Performance of graphics card (http://www.yougamers.com/hardware/stats/3dmark06/priceandperformance/)

[jason4207]

I read that ATi's 2600 series and the new-ish 3000 series have better HD over 8000 nvidia series cards I've seen this Ati HD 3450 256mb DDR2 for £47 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-093-HT&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=168 the same price as a 8500GT or a 7600GT.

Like I said I won't be playing serious extreme games just need a boost thou I am looking into a 8600GT now Point of View http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-014-PV&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=912

I don't know anything about them, but my first thought was to tell you to look at the newly released 3450/3650 cards from ATI. Looks like your already on the case!

[ratbuddy]

At least on paper, the 8500GT looks stronger and cheaper than the 3450:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=555&card2=514

Also, the 8600GT should be about the same price as the 7600GT (which beats the 8500GT by a good bit) :beer:

That second card you linked is a decent deal, if you can afford it. It's an 8600GTS, not GT, and will perform better than anything mentioned so far. Well worth it in the price range.

[White_Pawn]

6600GT = 8500GT

The 7600gt is roughly 2x better than the 6600GT... therefore the 7600GT > 8500GT